Suture Saga

Our main story today is about the hunt for the correct sutures. Emily has continued to work with her contacts in Dar es Salaam while Gamma sought out the few dispensaries in Morogoro that were rumored to be possible sources. As of yet, we have totally exhausted all possibilities in Morogoro but we have had a glimmer of hope from Emily’s Dar contacts. We hope to have a final resolution tomorrow.

Dr. Kivuma was in the OR with four of our surgeries and unavailable for clinic most of the day. That meant that Dr. John would see the majority of the patients today. We registered 35 patients in the morning before making the decision that we were at capacity for the day. An additional 15 patients were “pre-registered” for tomorrow. But there were more than 50 hopeful patients that were told to come back the next day and to be sure to be early—our queue is first come first serve.

One of the benefits of working year after year in the same place is that we often have prior patients come back to visit and let us know how they are doing. We had two such visits today—Christian was a young man that received our services two years ago and he formed a friendship with Debbie. They have stayed in touch for the past two years, and we were all glad to see him and greet him in person today. And Nancy, who spreads her love wherever she goes, became attached to a young teen boy, Hezron, also two years ago. Hezron was a very sick young man who had been admitted to Mazimbu for treatment. Nancy ministered to him and visited many times each day, using the children’s bible app on her phone to cheer him up and break through his stoic attitude. He seemed happy to see Nancy and enjoyed receiving the small gifts she had brought from home. But the most touching moment was when Nancy showed him letters written to him by Nancy’s young granddaughters, ages 10 and 7. Hezron read them aloud and actually smiled at the conclusion!

The highlight of our day was the third birthday celebration of Gamma and Emily’s oldest daughter, Andie. We gathered in the common room and enjoyed the delight on her beautiful young face at the site of her cake. We all got a chuckle when Andie got distressed when her mom approached the gaily decorated cake with a knife—definitely too pretty to eat!